Surface mini to feature Kinect features...

[quadtronix]

No, it does matter which party a consumer ends up blaming. It's just like blaming Microsoft for the lack of apps, which achieves as much as a user leaving a bad review for a product because the 3rd party seller messed up shipping. All bugs should be reported to the app vendor; I've gotten a number of bugs fixed this way when interacting with the actual devs. The onus is on the user to communicate properly. Throwing random flames in the wrong direction simply means nothing will get fixed, and a bad reputation would be wrongly attached to a product when the problem lies elsewhere. It's not smart consumerism. I would never use a Mac because the platform isn't supported for gaming, for example, but that doesn't mean I'm going to blame the Mac hardware and OS; obviously it's because the devs don't support it. Macs are fine for other things.

I never blamed or said I was blaming Microsoft for the issues. My point is that I can't use RT for Evernote which is a must-have feature for me and that's why I would prefer a full Windows 8 tablet. I didn't say no one else should use RT, I just can't use it myself for what I need to do. Another example is the kindle app. Between Evernote and the Kindle app, that's like 75% of what I use tablets for! The Kindle app has bugs too. (At least on my Surface). So the original post by another member that I was responding to said something about wanting full Windows on an 8 inch tablet was dumb... or something to that effect. I was merely stating that an example for me wanting full Windows is a better Evernote experience. Now I add a better Kindle experience and stand by my original statement.

 

[CrippsCorner]

No, it does matter which party a consumer ends up blaming. It's just like blaming Microsoft for the lack of apps, which achieves as much as a user leaving a bad review for a product because the 3rd party seller messed up shipping. All bugs should be reported to the app vendor; I've gotten a number of bugs fixed this way when interacting with the actual devs. The onus is on the user to communicate properly. Throwing random flames in the wrong direction simply means nothing will get fixed, and a bad reputation would be wrongly attached to a product when the problem lies elsewhere. It's not smart consumerism. I would never use a Mac because the platform isn't supported for gaming, for example, but that doesn't mean I'm going to blame the Mac hardware and OS; obviously it's because the devs don't support it. Macs are fine for other things.



Reminds me of the dream proposition from OQO. Everyone remembers OQO, right? You should.

The problem is that your use case is, I firmly believe, a miniscule outlier: Extremely few people would buy a mobile device on the ultramobile end of the bell curve in order to be tethered 99% of the time. So the question is how small that target audience is and how much profit can be made on those edges of the bell curve--the current 10.6" Surfaces are already niche products, certainly the 8" Dell and whatnot. Of course, I fully expect the 7-8" to be much more successful than the OQO, but the usability factor for regular mobile use is really going to matter to the bulk of consumers. You cannot compare the usability between an Apple Mini running a mobile OS and restricted mobile-only apps versus a Windows 8 "mini" where none of the desktop apps scale the UI for mobility.

Yeah I get that. It does of course come to individuals usage... for instance I like to have one device that holds everything (with backups of course!) so for me, whether I docked mine 99% of the time, or used it around the house and to travel with 99% wouldn't really matter. It's having that option of having everything with you. I'd happily replace my Surface with a smartphone if it was able to run full Windows (then docking to an external screen of course) in fact I believe one day it'll be just like that.

Other people (such as those within the Apple ecosystem) are more inclined to having more than one product to do different tasks. For instance using an iMac for 'real' work, and an iPad for laying about on the sofa with.

The thing I really love about the Surface is this... I've been having some issues with mine recently and have become increasingly annoyed with Microsoft. Not just with their physical products, but with their websites not working correctly (took me 1.5 hours, 3 different browsers and more than 15 attempts to get http://myservice.surface.com to work

) and if you've followed my other posts you'll know they screwed me over with my competition prize. I was laying in the bath even considering leaving the company and going for something else. But I just can't. There really is nothing else out that that gives me such awesome portability while being able to do real work with. Whether I like it or not sometimes, Surface is just in a league of it's own.

 

[Nuspieds]

Just came across some news about a 1080p Surface mini w/ kinect features due next year.…

8" Microsoft Surface Mini rumored to sport air gestures control, 1080p display

Shoot... If it works as advertised, sign me up... I would buy a Surface Mini RT at 720p without those features... But this is a Baytrail 1080p, full win 8.1 and Kinect features.... I'll buy that in a heart beat. Throw in Cortana virtual assistant and stylus, maybe a kickstand and I might just throw away my other tablets. Lol.… but serious!

I wish I were at the point where most of my apps were now Win 8 Modern UI apps but as it stands now, I am still heavily dependent on Desktop apps. The situation definitely continues to improve and I am becoming less and less reliant on Desktop mode (e.g., the most recent example is the recently-released SlingPlayer app), but the smaller form factor certainly does not lend itself well to Desktop apps; therefore, it presently does not lend itself well to me, either.

 

[demandarin]

Considering how well the venue 8 pro is doing with full windows and bay trail, theres a big market or want for an ultra portable full windows device.

 

[quadtronix]

I wish I were at the point where most of my apps were now Win 8 Modern UI apps but as it stands now, I am still heavily dependent on Desktop apps. The situation definitely continues to improve and I am becoming less and less reliant on Desktop mode (e.g., the most recent example is the recently-released SlingPlayer app), but the smaller form factor certainly does not lend itself well to Desktop apps; therefore, it presently does not lend itself well to me, either.

I'm also concerned about how well desktop apps are going to work on an 8" screen. I played with an Acer Iconia W3 the other day and was generally impressed but I didn't really get enough time with it to be certain that the form factor is right for me... at least running Windows. What I think I might do is pick up a Dell Venue 8 Pro in the meantime and try it out while I wait for the Surface mini. I have done some extensive investigation on the Dell and the reviews and youtube videos are mixed but not too bad. Especially the youtube videos. There I can see people using desktop mode without too much trouble in terms of the small screen and in the videos, reports on performance, stability, ease of use, build quality and screen quality all seem positive for the most part. Asus is also supposed to be coming out with a new 8" tablet running full Windows on a Baytrail processor and it comes with a stylus for $299. I may wait and see what the reviews have to say about that before I decide to get the Dell. As for the Toshiba Encore and Lenovo Miix 2 8 and even the new W4, I have heard bad things so I will have to pass on those but the Dell seems solid. I wish there was a store around me that had it on display so I could get some hands on before making a decision but I don't know of any... Anyway, we'll see, but I will report my experiences with the smaller form factor if and when I get my hands on the Dell.

 

[quadtronix]

Considering how well the venue 8 pro is doing with full windows and bay trail, theres a big market or want for an ultra portable full windows device.

Agreed! I'm very tempted to pick one of those up! In my previous post I talk about just that...

 

[godson594]

Consider people that use their Surface in a different way to you. 99% of the time my Surface is hooked up to an external monitor... driving an 8" display is a moot point. It'd be great to be able to take such a small device with you and then dock it to a full screen when you really needed to do some work

My thoughts exactly. there's also sketch apps that aren't made for RT and would be awesome on an 8" screen.

 

[quadtronix]

Well.... I got my Dell Venue 8 Pro yesterday. Loving it! Using the modern UI and the desktop! I use Evernote on the desktop (something I could not do with RT) and while it's a little small, it's still usable. Got Kindle loaded up with all my books, in Modern UI, and bookmarked my favorite sites. Still have to test a lot of things like YouTube etc... But so far so good.

 

[bluegrass]

Evernote is one of the many bloat software packages that come on the computers my boss buys for our company. I remove all bloatware before I setup a user account for my clients.

 

[quadtronix]

I use Evernote to keep track of all my links to articles and sites I might want to visit again... I install it on all my devices, phone, tablets and laptops so I always have access to my links whatever device I happen to be on. I've got a lot of categories with a lot of links in each... Hundreds actually. What I like about it is that it syncs my notes between all devices with one tap. Invaluable IMO.

Edit: I should add that when I copy a link into Evernote it turns into an actual link that I can just tap on and it takes me straight to the site, article or blog post directly. I love it... Been using it for a couple years now!